He said he did not intend to "vegetate" after his retirement and had been approached to do consulting work in the fields of water affairs, telecommunications, mining, the liquid fuels industry and the public service.

In a meeting with high level U.S. officials in advance of the May 2010 election, Zenawi told them in plain words what he will do to his opposition if they try to "discredit the election": "If opposition groups resort to violence in an attempt to discredit the election, we will crush them with our full force; they will all vegetate like Birtukan Midekssa in jail forever."

I'm feeling slightly calmer now, although rather exhausted - I wish I could have a weekend when I didn't actually have anything on and could just...vegetate instead of running around like a headless chicken a common pass time for me completing chores.